If you hate the pompously churlish Jose Mourinho, are bored by Barcelona's monopoly, frustrated by Arsene Wenger's stubborn idealism that's pushed him to the brink of blindness, and in general loathe the over-hyped, celebrity-obsessed pageant of arriviste wealth also known as the English Premier League, we have a recommendation.

Follow the German club Bayer Leverkusen. When Leverkusen, amongst the five biggest clubs in Germany, makes a comeback to the UEFA Champions League, it will mark the first ever Indian representation. Well, sort of. The club's newly appointed manager, the 46-year-old Robin Dutt, is an Indian-German.

Dutt was born in Cologne-Lindenthal to a German mother and Indian father who went to Germany from Kolkata in the late 1950s. In the most important assignment of his managerial career, he now manages Bayer Leverkusen. The club finished a respectable runner-up last year, and Dutt was named manager for the new season when Leverkusen's then coach Jupp Heynckes was poached by Bayern Munich, the biggest club in Germany. Dutt had been the manager at the lowly SC Freiburg for nearly four seasons.

Bayer Leverkusen is a club owned by the $35-billion pharma giant Bayer located in the North Rhine Westphalia region which also houses two other big clubs Borussia Dortmund (the current Bundesliga champions) and Schalke. Leverkusen began life in the early 20th century as a recreational club for the employees of Bayer.

Like many current football managers such as Real Madrid's Mourinho and Arsenal's Wenger, Dutt too never cut the mustard as a footballer. In fact, he plied his trade as a defender in several small clubs that played in the lower divisions and even for semi-professional teams.

Teutonic Efficiency, Bengali Passion

Dutt's managerial career has been a story of steady progression. His first brush with management occurred when he turned out as a player-manager for a club called TSG Leonberg in 1995. He did a stint at the National Sports University in Cologne, and after a series of coaching assignments with assorted minor teams, he joined Stuttgart Kickers. He came into the radar of bigger clubs when in 2006, Kickers beat SV Hamburg, a big northern club in a German Cup match.

The next year he landed a job at SC Freiburg, then languishing in the second division of Bundesliga. In 2009, under Dutt, the club secured promotion to the top tier. Freiburg is seen as a developmental and talent feeder club to the bigger sides in Germany. But in the last season, Freiburg finished ninth in the Bundesliga, their best ranking in more than a decade.

According to Arunava Chaudhuri, a football writer and entrepreneur of Indian origin who was instrumental in getting Bayern Munich to play its iconic goalkeeper Oliver Kahn's last competitive match in Kolkata, Dutt belongs to the new generation of young coaches in Germany who are committed to a high-tempo, technically sound, attacking brand of football. Under Dutt, Freiburg averaged almost two goals a game.

"A ninth place finish for Freiburg was a really big deal for the club. Dutt's development at Freiburg has been watched by a number of Bundesliga clubs over the past couple of years. And in the end it wasn't such a big surprise here in Germany that he got the job at a really big club. Clubs like Hamburg and Hanover had approached him earlier," he says.

Dutt's rise to the top at a big club is part of the multiculturalism that seems to be pervasive in the German football setup. The country's 2010 world cup squad of 23 had more than 10 players, such as Mesut ozil, Sami Khedira and Jerome Boateng who were either born outside the country, or had non-German parentage.

Regarded highly for his cerebral, understated and no-nonsense approach to management, Dutt seems to blend Teutonic efficiency with Bengali passion. Responding to an emailed questionnaire about his Indian roots, Dutt said he wouldn't like to talk about his private life, as he's a public figure. Incidentally, he will be the guest of honour at the Cologne Durga Puja this year.

Dutt's challenge at Leverkusen is immense. "I didn't come to Leverkusen to turn a second-placed team into a fourth- or fifth-placed team," he declared immediately after taking over. Although Leverkusen has historically been one of the strongest sides in Germany with superstars such as Rudi Voller and Michael Ballack representing the club with distinction, silverware has constantly eluded it, bar a European Cup title in 1988. Being the bridesmaid is almost second nature, earning them the entirely justifiable nickname "neverkusen". They've finished second in the Bundesliga on five occasions, and were also the losing finalists in the 2002 UEFA Champions League.

Will Dutt consider managing the Indian team? According to Arunava Chaudhuri, when he brought up the subject in a conversation with Dutt last year, he did not rule it out and even said it could be a highlight of his coaching career. Are you listening Mr Praful Patel?